TV Mounting Across Etobicoke
Etobicoke puts solid double brick houses and glass sided lakeshore towers in the same borough. The brick you can see from the street rarely tells you what is behind the plaster.
Where the van goes in Etobicoke
Etobicoke, neighbourhood by neighbourhood.
- Mimico
- New Toronto
- Long Branch
- Islington
- The Kingsway
- Alderwood
- Humber Bay Shores
- Rexdale
Not on the list? We still come. See every area, or call and ask.
Working here
Double brick is not brick veneer
Prewar houses through Mimico, New Toronto and The Kingsway are often solid masonry, two courses of brick bonded together with plaster on the inside face and no stud wall at all. Postwar Islington and Alderwood are veneer over timber. Same brick outside, two different fixings inside.
One wall of a lakeshore suite is glass
At Humber Bay Shores the window wall runs floor to ceiling and the plan is open, so there are few solid walls to choose from. We work out which one is concrete and which is steel stud before anything gets marked.
The building books us in
The newer towers want the service lift reserved and insurance on file, and the loading dock runs to a schedule. Give us the building name and we deal with that side of it.
Two brick houses that look the same from the street
Mimico, New Toronto, Long Branch and the older Kingsway streets are full of solid masonry houses. Two courses of brick bonded together, no cavity, and plaster applied to the inside face or onto furring strips laid against it. That wall holds a screen better than any stud wall in the city, but there may be no stud to find at all, and people spend twenty minutes hunting for something that was never built. The anchor goes into the body of a brick rather than the mortar joint, because mortar is softer, it varies from house to house, and an old lime joint can crumble out around a fixing.
Postwar Islington, Alderwood and Rexdale are the other build entirely. One course of brick tied back to a timber stud wall with an air gap behind it. From the pavement the two houses are indistinguishable. From the inside they want completely different hardware, which is why a test hole comes before a bracket hole. The fixings for both are set out on the brick and concrete mounting page.
Where the plaster in a solid brick house sits on furring strips, the fixing has to pass the strips and still set properly in the masonry behind. A screw that stops in the strapping is holding a piece of wood to a wall, not a television to a house.
Humber Bay Shores and a wall of glass
The lakeshore towers are a different problem. The window wall is glass from floor to ceiling, the suite is open plan, and what is left is often one concrete demising wall plus a couple of steel stud partitions around the bathroom and the corridor. The glass is not a candidate and neither are the mullions between the panes.
So the decision is made before the drill comes out: which wall is solid, which one suits the seating, and which one does not put the screen opposite the lake all afternoon. Concrete also settles the cable question, because there is no cavity in it to hide anything. That means trunking, or a route through a neighbouring stud wall, and the rules are in the note on hiding TV cables and what is actually allowed.
Getting in along the Lakeshore
Etobicoke is inside the city, so same day is realistic. The Gardiner and Lake Shore Boulevard are the access, both of which behave at midday and neither of which behaves at five. Rexdale is quick off peak from the 401 and the 427.
In a tower the distance is never the problem. The service lift has to be reserved, insurance has to be on file, and the loading dock has a timetable. Tell us the building when you book and the screen goes up on the day rather than on the second visit. The quote is agreed before anyone drills.
While we are in Etobicoke
Rarely just the one screen.
Asked in Etobicoke
How do I know if my house is double brick or brick veneer?
The age is the clue and a small hole is the proof. From inside, a veneer wall gives you board, then a cavity, then timber. A solid wall gives you plaster and then brick within an inch. We test somewhere the bracket will cover.
Our condo is open plan with a wall of windows. Where can the television go?
Usually the demising wall or the wall that backs the bathroom or the corridor. Nothing gets hung on the glass or on the frames around it, and a screen facing the window wall will fight the afternoon light.
Can you run the cables inside a concrete wall?
No. Concrete has no cavity to run them in. On those walls it is paintable trunking, or a route through an adjacent stud wall or the ceiling where the layout allows it.
Do you cover Rexdale as well as the lakeshore?
Yes, the whole of Etobicoke from Long Branch up to Rexdale. It is all inside the city, so same day is realistic when the slot is there.